Studio Mayhem
by 2remember
Summary: Aelita's first performance with the SubDigitals is a raging success! Now, they'd like her to perform again, this time in London! Our heroine would love to, but there are a few obstacles to overcome...
1. The Paris Concert

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

It was almost 3am before she walked back in the gate of Kadic Academy. Normally, she'd be in deep trouble for coming in so late; but tonight, Aelita Stones had a get-out-of-jail-free card.

* * *

It started a few weeks ago when she had won a competition to be the guest DJ for the SubDigitals concert in Paris. The drummer, Chris, had visited Kadic Academy earlier, looking for new talent as well as visiting his uncle, Jim Morales. Aelita had submitted a demo to Chris, which he liked so much, he had her come down to their studio for an audition. She went, and the rest of the group liked her, so she got the gig.

Of course, what actually happened wasn't quite as simple as all that. Aelita Stones had, well, a different life. She and her friends spent just about every free moment they could fighting an evil computer program called XANA, which was trying to take over the world, destroy it, or something bad bad like that. The teens had been fighting it for the past few years, and for the most part, held their own. During both Chris's visit to Kadic, and Aelita's audition with the band, the rogue program launched an attack, trying to eliminate the threat the group posed. They were able to thwart the assault, and life went on as normal.

Then came the rehearsal. Aelita was overwhelmed by the mixing board she would have to command, and had to spend a lot of time with Simon the sound man to learn her way around it. But, by the end of the session, she was working the massive mixer as well as the one she was used to.

Of course, XANA didn't stay quiet through the rehearsal. It had possessed several of the roadies and tried killing Aelita with various heavy objects. She managed to dodge the objects and escaped to the factory, where she helped her friends shut XANA down.

* * *

The concert was set for Saturday night. The young ninth grader was going to be the opening act for a capacity crowd of sixty thousand people, and she wanted to share the moment with her closest friends. So on Friday, she went around and asked them to come. Her first stop was Yumi Ishiyama. She caught the tenth grader as she was walking out of her last class of the day.

"Yumi," Aelita began as she fell into step with her friend, "would you like to come to the SubDigitals concert tomorrow? They gave me tickets and backstage passes for my friends."

"Are you kidding? I'd love to!" Yumi replied, "after what we've been through the last few weeks, wild horses couldn't keep me away!"

"So, who're you going to ask to go with you?" Aelita asked next.

"Go with?" Yumi stuttered, "well, gee... I'm not sure..."

"Aw, c'mon," the pink-haired girl said, "I bet if you ask, Ulrich would go with you. Do you want me to ask him for you?"

"No, no! That's okay!" the Japanese girl quickly replied, "I'll... see if my brother wants to go."

"Okay, Yumi," Aelita said, figuring she'd teased her friend enough, "you ask your 'brother' and let me know. In the mean time, I'll see about Odd."

Odd Della Robbia was a lot easier.

"Heck yeah, I'll go!" he immediately said, "I'm sure I can get Camille or someone to go with. Don't worry, by showtime I'll have the prettiest girl around on my arm!"

Even though she said she wouldn't, Aelita next asked Ulrich Stern.

"Well, yeah, I'll go," he told her, "but I don't know about a date, or anything like that."

"Well, I happen to know that a certain young Japanese girl is coming," Aelita said, "I'm willing to bet she wouldn't mind having a good friend on her arm when she went backstage."

Ulrich blushed just a little at that.

"Heh, heh, yeah," he said, "we'll just have to see."

That left one person left to ask, the one person Aelita really wanted to be there. She found him exactly where she thought she would, busily typing away at his computer.

"Jeremie; um, do you have a moment?" she asked as she entered his room.

"What's up Aelita?" Jeremie Belpois replied as he continued typing, not even turning his head.

"Well, I was wondering... would you like to come to the concert Saturday night? I've got tickets and passes and..."

"I really can't," he replied, cutting her off, "I've got to keep working on the Skid's program. I need to find a way to increase the quantum energy available to it when it's in the Replika XANA created. I'd be a disaster if XANA destroyed the ship, 'cause that'd cut you all off from the supercomputer. I don't want to lose you g..."

"Jeremie," Aelita said, "no matter what you do, there will always be something more, some little threat that you didn't quite account for. And it will still be there Sunday. Saturday is very important to me, and I want to share it with all my friends, but especially with you. Please, can't you put XANA aside for once and come with me?"

Jeremie said nothing; he just continued his typing. Aelita wanted to scream; she wanted to whack him upside his head to knock some sense into him. But what she did was to quietly turn and leave his room. She went back to her own room and settled down for the evening. All the while, she did her best not to shed the tears that were threatening to fall.

* * *

Saturday finally arrived, and the campus was abuzz with gossip about the concert. Those who were going were all excited about going, and those who weren't cast envious glares at the ones who were.

When it was finally time to go, Aelita left her dorm room, and almost immediately ran into Jim Morales, the school's gym teacher.

"Whoa! Sorry there, Aelita!" he said, "Chris is waiting downstairs; so I told him I'd come up and fetch you. I take it you're all set for tonight?"

"Yeah," Aelita replied with a sigh.

"Now waitaminute," Jim said, "you're going to be performing before all those people tonight and you look like someone just shot your pet kitten! You ought to be pumped up for tonight!"

"I am, Jim, really," Aelita replied, "it's just..."

"Lemee guess, Belpois," the PE teacher said, "you asked him to go and he wouldn't budge from that computer of his."

Aelita just nodded her head in the affirmative.

"Tell you what," he said, "you get yourself downstairs and off to the concert. Maybe things will work out before the night's through. Which reminds me, I've got to take care of somethin' before I leave!"

With that, Jim strode off. Aelita just turned and went downstairs, met up with Chris, and went to the concert.

Jim, on the other hand, went down to the boy's dorm level. He quietly made his way to Jeremie's room, then leaned against the door and listened carefully to the boy as he typed on his computer. Occasionally, he heard the blond genius mutter something under his breath. Satisfied that he understood the situation, Jim left the boy's dorms and made his way down into the basement.

"Now, where is that panel..." he muttered to himself as he looked about.

Finally he found the panel he was looking for, the phone panel. He opened it up, looked carefully at the wiring inside, then pulled four wires. Next, he went over to the electrical panel and opened it. Once again he carefully scrutinized the wiring before tripping one of the breakers. He then closed the panel up and snapped a lock on it to make sure no one else could mess with it.

As he walked back upstairs, he made a call on his cell phone.

"Hey, Mike, Jim," he said to Michael Roullier, the groundskeeper/handyman, "do me a favor. If you get a call from Belpois about his power and phone line being out, tell him it will be at least Monday before you can get to it. What? Well, I just have this feeling that he's going to be having problems in the next few minutes, get me? Yeah, thanks a lot, Mike; I owe ya."

Jim had just made it back to the boy's dorm level when he ran into Jeremie Belpois, muttering to himself.

"Hey, Belpois! Watch where you're going!" he said to the boy.

"Oh, sorry, Jim," Jeremie replied, "say, could you help me? The power and phone just went out in my room, and I was working on something important for class Monday."

"No can do, Belpois," Jim said, "the last time I went messing with the electrical panel, I almost got myself electrocuted. Principal Delmas said he would fry me himself if I ever messed with it again. And I don't know a thing about the phone lines; we'd have to call the phone company about that."

"Great," Jeremie said, "I'm hosed; I can't even go to..."

"Go to where?" Jim asked.

"Oh, nowhere!" was the quick reply.

"Well, since you seem to have time on your hands now, you can give me a hand," Jim said, "I've got something I need to do tonight, and I could use some short help."

"I can't, I've..."

"Let me put it another way," the gym teacher said, with just the right hint of menace in his voice, "you can either help me out tonight, or you can do three weeks of detention. I'm thinking you need to work on that upper body strength of yours, and maybe spending three weeks on the rock climbing wall would do the trick."

"You wouldn't..."

"Ask Della Robbia what I wouldn't do," Jim said, "you're dressed, so get your butt in gear and move it! We've got places to be tonight!"

* * *

Aelita sat in the backstage lounge with the rest of the band, looking dejectedly at the floor. People would come by and shake her hand and make small talk with her. When they did, she'd smile a fake smile and nod at the appropriate moments, only to return to her gloom when they left her alone.

"Say, Aelita, is there something wrong?" Chris asked her at one point, "you've been quiet ever since we left."

"It's nothing," she assured him, "nothing at all." Chris shrugged at her response, then turned back to the others.

Yumi, Ulrich and Odd did show up. Pigs must be flying somewhere in the world, because Ulrich actually worked up enough nerve to ask Yumi if she would come with him tonight. Though she never let her face betray her, the Japanese girl was delighted that he had finally made a move. That joy was muted a little by the fact that her mother insisted on accompanying them as a chaperon.

Odd wasn't alone either, but his date was probably the shock of the century: Sissi Delmas, with her father, Principal Delmas, as chaperon. As Odd would explain it later, Sissi had fairly well tracked him down and alternately threatened/begged/blackmailed him into taking her. Since he had no other takers, he relented; especially when she said that she'd see to it that none of his friends would be allowed off campus if he didn't.

Seeing her friends there, even Sissi, perked Aelita up a bit. One of the things that had been keeping her quiet was the fact that she didn't know anyone else here, other than Chris, and him not all that well. Most everyone else was either from the record company, the promotion group, or something else related to the band. Having some familiar faces helped ease the pain of not seeing the one face she wanted to see.

Finally, twenty minutes before she was to perform, the promoters ushered everyone out of the lounge.

"Well, Aelita, it's time," Chris told her, "you've got the music in you; just let it out for the others to hear. Don't worry about all the people out there, just act like you're playing for your friends, or at school. And, no matter what, have fun."

The pink haired girl smiled as she nodded her head. Just then, there was a commotion at the entrance to the lounge.

"Let me through! That's my nephew over there, and I'm going to see him before he goes on!" came the loud voice of Jim Morales.

"Sir! You can't go back there!" one of the ushers insisted.

Security guards were now rushing to the scene to break up a potential fight. They grabbed Jim and struggled with him as he tried to shake them off. The conflagration caught Chris's eye, and he moved to stop it.

"Hey! It's okay; he's with us!" Chris shouted out to them, "he's okay; let him back."

The people holding Jim let go and he straightened himself up and dusted himself off.

"See? Told ya."

He then walked in and over to his nephew, with someone in tow. Jim turned to that person and said, "don't you have someone you want to talk to before she goes out there? Get moving, Belpois!"

Aelita's head snapped over to where Jim was standing and saw Jeremie peek out from behind him.

"Uh, hi Aelita," he sheepishly said.

She ran over and threw her arms around him, crushing him in a big hug.

* * *

Aelita's performance was fantastic. Having Jeremie there blew away all of the funk that had been pent up inside her, and she let the joy that replaced it flow out in her music.

All of her friends were sitting in the front row, watching her performance, but the only one she had eyes for was Jeremie. He was off to her left, and she had to crane her head to see him, but every time she looked at the blond headed genius, her mixing got just that much better. When she finally finished her set, the crowd went wild.

After she had finished, she asked one of the ushers to find Jeremie and bring him back to the lounge to join her. He joined her moments later, and they spent the rest of the concert watching the SubDigitals perform on the monitors. She even managed to get him up to dance a few times.

The concert wrapped up at 1am. Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, Sissi and their chaperons were able to get backstage again, and they all stayed with the band and celebrated the success of the show. All of the group came by and congratulated Aelita on her performance, and Sophie, the group's manager, said she'd call the girl in the morning.

The others left at around 1:30, but Aelita, Jeremie and Jim stayed later, finally getting back to Kadic at 3am. Jim escorted the two teens to their respective dorm levels and told them to get some sleep, then wandered off to do the same.

After Jim left, and before she went up to her room, Aelita said, "Jeremie, I'm so glad you came. What changed your mind?"

Jeremie blushed as he replied, "you know, it's just me. I thought about what you said and finally realized today that you were right. I ran out to try to find you, and ran into Jim instead. The rest is history."

She leaned over and quickly kissed him on the cheek, deepening his already deep blush.

"Apology accepted. And I'm glad you came tonight."

With that, the pink haired girl turned and ran upstairs to her dorm room. Jeremie sighed a moment, ashamed he had to lie to her, then turned and went to his own dark room. As he dressed for bed, he thought that it would probably be at least Monday before things got fixed, and he hoped XANA didn't pick tomorrow to launch an attack.


	2. The Opportunity Of A Lifetime

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

The next day, Sunday, Aelita was still on Cloud Nine. The concert was the talk of the school, and more than a few kids were saying that Aelita's performance was fantastic. That morning at breakfast, the Lyoko Warriors were swamped by students, and some teachers, coming over and offering their congratulations to Kadic Academy's newest celebrity.

Yumi, Ulrich and Odd all chattered away with Aelita while Jeremie just sat and ate his food. The power and phone line were still disconnected in his room, so he wasn't able to get back to his work.

"Hey, Einstein," Odd suddenly said, "what happened to you last night. You disappeared after Aelita finished up."

"Well, I..." he started, but was interrupted by Aelita.

"He spent the rest of the concert with me," she simply said, earning squeals of delight from the others.

"Well then, maybe we ought to change Jeremie's nickname to Casanova," Yumi wickedly suggested.

"Or maybe the Flash," Odd added.

"We didn't go that far," Aelita said, causing Jeremie to blush, "so it would be too soon to know if he deserved that name."

The others laughed at that, causing Jeremie to stand up.

"I think I'm going over to the factory now," he said, "I've got to get back to work on the Skid."

With that, he took his tray and left.

"You think maybe we pushed him a little too far?" Odd asked.

* * *

Aelita thought about going over to the abandoned factory where the supercomputer was hidden to check up on Jeremie, but was interrupted by her cell phone ringing.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Aelita, it's Sophie," the caller responded, "I just called to thank you for the wonderful performance last night."

"Thank you for the opportunity," Aelita replied.

"There's also something else I would like to talk to you about. Would it be possible for you to come down to the studio?"

"Sure. When?"

"I'm there right now. Do you think you could be here in an hour?"

Aelita thought for a moment, then replied, "sure; I'll see you then."

Aelita put away her cell phone and thought a moment longer. Jeremie was probably sulking at the factory anyway, and if something came up, she could make it back quickly enough. She was curious about what Sophie wanted, so Aelita decided to go on over and find out.

She left the campus and made her way down to the recording studio the SubDigitals were using. She found the door open and went inside.

"Aelita, is that you?" came Sophie's voice.

"Yes, I'm here," she replied.

"Come on back here," Sophie said.

Aelita followed the voice to an office in the back of the studio. Inside was Sophie, Chris and Simon. They all had smiles on their faces.

"And here's our new star!" Sophie exclaimed as Aelita walked in, "I just wanted to tell you that your performance last night was superb! We talked to several people after the concert, and they all just raved about you."

"And not only that," Chris added, "quite a few people said the same thing without having to be asked. We've got people that do nothing but stand out in the crowds after the concert and take a measure of what the public thought about the performance. It seemed like everyone was going on and on about 'that little pink haired chick' and the job she did at the beginning."

"Aelita," Sophie went on, "I'm in the business of finding new talent for the music industry. I'm always on the lookout for someone new and exciting, and I think I've found that someone. You."

Aelita could only stare wide-eyed at the assemblage.

"What I'd like to do is take you on as a new client," Sophie said, "and on that note, I've got an offer for you. The SubDigitals have a concert in London in a month. We originally had an opening act booked for that performance, but they had to back out. I'd like it if you would open for the group again, just like you did last night."

"I... I... don't know what to say," was all Aelita could stammer.

"Yes would be nice," Simon said, "oh, and before I forget; Sophie, I believe you have something for Miss Stones, right?"

"Oh yes." Sophie reached down and picked up an envelope, then extended it out to Aelita.

"I know this wasn't part of the original arrangement, but the band insisted. Plus, Simon is pretty good at arm twisting."

Aelita took the envelope and opened it. Inside was a check for two thousand euros. The girl's jaw almost hit the floor.

"If you agree to join us in London, we would pay you standard scale," Sophie said, "that would amount to about ten times what you see there, after taxes and fees."

Aelita would have accepted the offer even if they hadn't mentioned money, but to be paid that much? She responded quickly.

"I would be more than happy to work for you," she replied.

"Good!" Sophie beamed, "now, since this is a more formal arrangement, we'll have to fill out some paperwork. Unfortunately, the lawyers always have to take their pound of flesh; so I'm going to need to speak to your parents in order to make the final arrangements. If you could, would you give me their numbers..."

Aelita's world came tumbling down around her. _Her parents?????_

"That might be a little difficult," she started.

"Well, if not your parents, then maybe your guardians," Sophie said, "I just need someone who has legal responsibility for your well being."

"I.. I'm going to have to get back with you," Aelita said, "I'll have to talk to my folks."

"I'm sure they'll be delighted," Sophie said, "don't take too long now; we have rehearsals we need to do, plus make any arrangements we need to in order to get you to London."

"I'll talk to them as soon as I can," Aelita said. With that, the meeting broke up.

As Aelita walked back to school, she mulled the problem in her head.

_What am I going to do, I don't have parents or guardians! I think school would let me go, but what about Lyoko and XANA? What about Jeremie?_


	3. The Specter Of A Solution

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Aelita was still rolling the problem around in her mind as she made her way to the factory. She got in the elevator and went down to the computer lab. There, Jeremie Belpois was ensconced in the main console's chair, typing away.

"Hi, Aelita," he said, not looking up from the display, "so how's the star doing?"

"Just fine," she replied, "as a matter of fact, they liked me so much, they want me to perform again."

"That's great!" Jeremie exclaimed as he finally looked up from his work, his face matching the emotion in his voice. That brightened Aelita's mood up considerably.

"There's only one problem," she said, "they need to speak to my parents."

"That would be a problem," Jeremie said, "well, I guess you told them no, right?"

"No, I didn't," Aelita replied, "I told them I would try and talk to my parents."

"Aelita, you realize we can't just materialize your parents," Jeremie said, "I know Franz Hopper is out there some place, but it's unlikely we're going to find him today, or even this week."

"But couldn't you call them up and use the voice changer?" Aelita asked.

"That might work initially, but at some point they're going to want to talk face to face. What do we do then?" Jeremie replied.

"I don't know!" Aelita snapped, frustrated.

Jeremie was silent for a moment. Part of his reluctance to help was he really didn't have an idea of how to help her; another part was he didn't want Aelita to get so far away from him. He needed her close, so he could protect her, and sometimes she just didn't see that.

But then again, she was good at the concert last night. And she was radiant afterwards. When they were back in the lounge alone watching the band play, new possibilities opened in the young genius' mind, possibilities he had never conceived of before.

Plus, he knew she loved her music. Oh, she knew about as much about the supercomputer as he did, but it wasn't exactly the same. She knew it and used it as a tool, but she didn't love it like he did. He truly enjoyed exploring all of the nooks an crannies of its inner workings; he enjoyed making new things with it, things he was certain Franz Hopper never dreamed of doing with it. She loved the outside world and all that happened in it, while he loved the inside world and all that went on there. But. as much as he was afraid that this difference would be the one to finally sunder them, he just couldn't deny her the opportunity if he could at all help it.

"Look," he said after he finished musing, "maybe we can generate a polymorphic specter to pass off as your father. We send it to meet with the SubDigitals, and work everything out then."

"Do you think that will work?" Aelita asked, hope rising within her.

"I don't know," was the reply, "we're doing okay with the William clone we generated, but one of us has to keep an eye on him at all times. Plus, none of William's family has been around to check up on him, so we've been lucky in that respect. Impersonating your father is going to be a lot tougher, especially since we don't know what they want to talk to him about."

"But, could we at least try?" she asked.

"Yeah," was the reply, "we have that DNA code from your father; I can use that for the physical template. Maybe I can work something up to give us a little more control."

With that, Jeremie turned back to the console, shut down what he was doing, then started opening more display windows. He worked for a few minutes, then turned back to Aelita.

"I think I've got an idea," he said, "I can program the polymorphic specter to wrap around a person like a spacesuit. They can control the movement, and I can have it change their voice to Franz's. That would give you the parent you need, and the control we require."

"That's great!" Aelita exclaimed, "when can it be ready?"

"I'm going to need a day or two to work out the kinks," he replied, "I'm also going to need someone to 'wear' the specter, so we've got to ask one of the guys."

* * *

It didn't take Jeremie quite two days to get the specter up and running, but it was close. For his initial testing, he used Aelita as his model to test the specter and its responses. When they had it close to perfect, Jeremie called the others over to the factory.

"Guys, we've got a situation," he began, "last Sunday, Aelita got an offer from the SubDigitals to perform with them in London next month."

"That's Great! Wonderful! Congratulations!" they exclaimed.

"There's only one problem, they need to talk to Aelita's parents," Jeremie said next.

"Oh, bummer," Odd replied.

"I think I've got a solution, but I need your help," Jeremie said next, "what we're going to do is generate a polymorphic specter of Franz Hopper, and one of you is going to wear it to a meeting with the SubDigitals."

"Huh?" was the general response.

"Watch."

Jeremie turned to the console and type a moment. Then, a black smoke emanated from the console's electronics and surrounded Aelita. The others gasped a moment, then dropped into fighting stances while the specter coalesced into Franz Hopper.

"Well, what do you think?" came Franz Hopper's voice.

"Is that really Franz Hopper?" Odd asked.

"No," Jeremie replied, "it's Aelita. She can control its movement, and she make it speak. It converts her voice patterns into Franz Hopper's."

As the blond haired genius was explaining all of this, Aelita started walking back and forth in the specter, and even began skipping at one point.

"Okay, that looks ridiculous," Ulrich said.

Aelita/Franz just giggled, making it worse.

"Okay, that's enough," Jeremie said, typing on the keyboard once more. He hit the return key and the specter dissipated.

"It looks like you've got everything worked out," Yumi finally said, "what do you want from us?"

"I need one of you to play Franz Hopper," Jeremie said, "I can't do it, since I'll have to be here monitoring Lyoko; and Aelita obviously can't do it, she'll have to be there herself."

"I'll do it!" Odd shouted, "I'd make a great father! 'Okay, young lady, now you go and play while daddy talks to these nice people.'"

"Actually, I was thinking about Yumi," Jeremie said.

"Why me?" the girl in question asked.

"Because you're the tallest," Jeremie replied, "you see, one of the bugs I couldn't quite work out was routing what the specter saw to the wearer's eyes. I'm certain that you'll have to read some papers as part of this, and it would look strange if you held them at chest level to read them. Since you're the tallest of us, you could act more natural reading stuff."

"I don't mind doing it," Yumi said, "but what is really going on here? Why do they want to meet Aelita's parents anyway?"

"Sophie said something about paperwork," Aelita said, "'formalize our relationship' is what she said."

"That sounds like she wants Franz to sign a contract of some kind," the Japanese girl said, "I don't know about anything like that."

"None of us do," Jeremie said, "what you can do is tell them that you'd like a day or two to look over whatever they want you to sign. That way, we can look at it and try and figure it out, and if push comes to shove, ask someone their opinion. Anyway, another problem is the hand coordination. I can't turn your signature into Franz Hopper's. We'll have to do that here, somehow."

"Look, I hate to rain on everybody's parade," Ulrich said, "but what about XANA? What happens if he tries something while all this is going on."

"That's the other part," Jeremie said, "while Yumi and Aelita attend the conference, we'll stay here and watch out for our friendly neighborhood virus."

"And what do we do if he attacks," Ulrich said next, "Aelita is the only one that can deactivate towers; what do we do while she's gone?"

"If XANA attacks, I'll more than likely be the target," Aelita said, "since I'm separated from the group and close to the specter. If something happens, Jeremie will deactivate the specter and we'll run back to the factory. We can do a Return To The Past to clean up, then try again."

"And there's one more thing, Einstein," Ulrich said, "what happens after this meeting? What happens when Aelita flies off to London? It's gonna be pretty hard for her to run back to the factory if XANA attacks while she's gone."

"I know, Ulrich," Jeremie said, "and I'm working on that. Right now, all we can do is solve one problem at a time."


	4. Test Run

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Jeremie, Yumi and Aelita spent the rest of the day getting the Japanese girl used to the polymorphic specter she would have to wear. She walked in it, sat in it, held and read things; all the things she would have to do while pretending to be Aelita's father. After that, there was nothing more they could do until the actual meeting, It was late, and the trio left the factory and made their way to their respective beds.

For some reason, Aelita lagged behind Jeremie as they walked back to Kadic; lagged behind far enough that Jeremie quickly disappeared into the night. As she walked on, Aelita thought about what was coming; the meeting with Sophie, the rehearsals, the trip. She was so wrapped up in her dreams, she didn't realize it was past curfew until Jim Morales caught her coming into the courtyard.

"Aelita!" he bellowed, "what are you doing out at this hour!"

Shocked out of her reverie, Aelita could only stare like a deer into the headlights of an oncoming car as the PE teacher walked over to confront her.

"Young lady, you know the rules about being out after curfew!" he started, "Principal Delmas is going to have a fit when he finds out!"

"I'm sorry Jim," she stammered, "could we not tell the principal, maybe?"

"Fat chance," he replied, "you can explain yourself in the morning. Now, get up to your room!"

Aelita trudged on inside, Jim close behind her. She went up to her room, went inside, and changed for bed. As she settled down to sleep, she wondered what else could go wrong.

* * *

"Miss Stones," Principal Delmas began the next morning, "while I do enjoy your company, I have not been enjoying the circumstances that have required it recently. I'm at a loss to understand why all of a sudden you've been acting out as you have. Do you have any explanation?"

"No sir, I don't," was all Aelita could reply.

"Well, unfortunately, I can't accept that answer," the principal said, "I want to nip this in the bud right now, before it gets any worse. I'm afraid I'm going to have to call your parents. You will wait outside until I have spoken with them."

As the pink haired girl walked out of the office, she didn't know what was worse; being in deep enough trouble to warrant a call to her parents, or having a situation arise to finally test out the contingency plan Jeremie devised for just this situation.

Back in his office, Jean-Pierre Delmas checked the school records for Aelita's contact information. He quickly found the number and dialed. This activated a number of things. The call was routed through the phone system, and was intercepted by a program Jeremie Belpois had written soon after Aelita was materialized on Earth. It caught the phone connection and rerouted it to the supercomputer. Once there, it started a program which acted like an answering machine, using Franz Hopper's voice. After five rings, it answered.

"Hello, you've reached the voice mailbox of Franz Stones. I'm not able to take your call at the moment, but if you leave your name, your telephone number and a brief message, I'll get back to you when I'm able."

At the beep, the principal said, "yes, Mr. Stones; this is Jean-Pierre Delmas at Kadic Academy, and I'm calling about your daughter, Aelita. We've been having a problem with her of late, and last night she was caught outside after curfew. I need to speak with you about her behavior and I would like to meet with you and her to discuss the matter. If you would please call me, I would like to arrange a meeting at your earliest convenience."

After the call ended, the program in the supercomputer computer sent out an alarm to Jeremie's desktop computer and his laptop. The blond genius had just left Science class when he heard the familiar beep.

"Oh no, XANA!" he said to himself as he quickly went somewhere to check the alarm.

He quickly found a seat and opened his laptop. The message on the display told him that a voice mail had been left for Franz Stones.

"Great," was all Jeremie said as he took out a headphone and plugged it into his computer. He then entered a command and played the message from Principal Delmas.

"Well, I don't know if this is a bad thing or a good thing," Jeremie said to himself, "on one hand, Aelita being in trouble is bad, but on the other hand, this could be a live test of the Franz Hopper specter we've been working on."

He closed his laptop and got out his cell phone and dialed.

"Yumi, meet me over at the factory pronto," he said, "no, it's not a XANA attack. Let's just say that Franz Hopper needs to make an appearance."

* * *

Aelita tried explaining to Mrs. Weber that getting a hold of her father was problematic at the best of times, but she would hear nothing of it. When the principal said he had left a message, he directed that Aelita be taken to the library to wait there. If her father didn't call back in a reasonable period of time, she was to be suspended for a week.

An hour later, the principal got a phone call.

"Hello, Jean-Pierre Delmas speaking."

"Principal Delmas, this is Franz Stones, Aelita's father," came the voice on the other end.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Stones! I'm so very happy to finally speak with you," the principal said, "I'm just sorry it has to be about such a serious matter."

"What seems to be the problem, sir?" Franz asked.

"Well, for the past few weeks, Aelita has been getting into quite a bit of trouble," the principal said, "flouting the rules, lying. The latest incident was last night, when she was caught coming from outside school property after curfew."

"Well, certainly doesn't seem too bad," Franz said, "after all, children will be children."

"I understand that," Delmas said, "but this is all new behavior for Aelita. Until a few weeks ago, she was an exemplary student. Now, I've had her in my office on three occasions, almost one right after the other. Mr. Stones, I would really like to meet with you face to face to discuss the matter. Maybe you can impress on Aelita the importance of following established guidelines."

"Well, Mr. Delmas, I do have a hectic schedule," Franz said, "but I'll make time for Aelita's sake. Would 1pm today be alright with you?"

"1pm would be fine," the principal said, "I look forward to meeting you in person."

With that, Principal Delmas hung up the phone, glad that he was able to convince Mr. Stones of the seriousness of the situation. Aelita was a top student at the school, and he didn't want her to lose it all.

On the other end of the conversation, Jeremie Belpois terminated the call. He turned in the main console's chair and smiled at his companion, Yumi Ishiyama.

"So, what'dya think?" he asked.

"Okay so far," Yumi replied, "I've overheard my father as he took these kinds of calls, and you said just about what he did each time."

"What happened?"

"I got grounded."

"Ugh. Well, hopefully that won't happen here. The last thing I want to do is ruin Aelita's chance with the SubDigitals."

"Jeremie," Yumi said with all seriousness, "do you really mean that?"

"Of course I do!" was the response.

"It's just that... well, in the past, you've been pretty protective of her," Yumi said, "almost pigheaded at times."

"Yes, and I know that," Jeremie replied, "no, I really don't want her doing this; it takes her too far away from the supercomputer in case of trouble. But I've been bit by my over protectiveness often enough to realize that I can't protect her from the world. It'll be bad enough if I lose her because she wants to pursue her dreams; I don't want to lose her because I tried to smother her."

Yumi went over and put an arm around her friend.

"Jeremie, you aren't going to lose her. I know Aelita thinks the world of you, even when she's upset with you for coddling her. But you are doing the right thing by letting her do this. Just don't worry, everything will work out."

"I hope so," he replied, "well, we've got a couple of hours before we have to be back. Let's get lunch, then meet back here at 12:15."

* * *

To make sure his charge didn't try and sneak off, Principal Delmas made Aelita eat lunch with him in his office. He told the girl about the 1pm appointment with her father, and she looked surprised at the news.

1pm arrived and the principal received a call from his secretary.

"Mr. Delmas, Mr. Stones is here to see you."

The door opened and Mrs. Stones walked in.

He was a moderately tall man, about the same height as Principal Delmas. He had longish bushy gray hair, and a full beard and mustache. He was wearing round eyeglasses, and was dressed in a comfortable suit and tie. He walked over to the principal and extended his hand.

"Principal Delmas, Franz Stones," he said.

"Happy to meet you, Mr. Stones," the principal replied, "though I wish it were under better circumstances. Please, take a seat."

Mr. Stones took the seat indicated, but not before leaning over his daughter and giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.

"And how are you doing, princess?" he asked with a smile.

"I could be doing better, daddy," she replied, smiling back.

"Ahem... yes," the principal said, "the reason I wanted to speak with you today is because Aelita has been getting into quite a bit of trouble recently."

"While I'll admit three times is more than none, but it isn't all that much," Mr. Stones said.

"Yes, but you see, this has suddenly started," the principal went on, "up until a few weeks ago, Aelita's behavior has been beyond reproach."

"Honey, care to explain yourself," Mr. Stones asked his daughter.

"Well, there's not really anything to say," Aelita replied, "a lot of it was just a big misunderstanding."

"Misunderstanding?" the principal said, "being in a boy's dorm room after curfew? Lying to get another student out of gym class? Being off campus after curfew?"

"Aelita..." her father said.

"Daddy, it was a mistake!" Aelita quickly said, "the boy was a friend of mine, and we were studying together, nothing else! I'll admit I shouldn't have lied for my friend, but it didn't seem wrong at the time. And I just lost track of time last night..."

"Aelita, you shouldn't have been off campus at all!" the principal said, "I have wondered if it was due to her cousin's influence. Mr. Della Robbia has quite a history of mischief, and I've wondered sometimes if some of it hasn't rubbed off on her."

"Ah, yes, Odd," Mr. Stones said, "high spirited, that one. My brother-in-law has a quite time with him, let me tell you! But, c'mon, Mr. Delmas! Aren't you overreacting just a little?"

"I don't believe so," the principal replied, "I'm trying to be proactive in salvaging a student. The last thing I want in the world is for Aelita to slip so far that her academics are affected. It could ruin her whole life!"

"Well, let me have a talk with her," Mr. Stones finally said, "let me handle this instead of punishing her yourself. Maybe I can talk a little common sense back into her."

"Well, I'm willing to try that," the principal said, "but let me tell you, if her behavior continues to deteriorate, I may have to take drastic measures."

"From what I've heard," Mr. Stones said, "I don't think we're anywhere near that, yet."

"And I'm trying to stay away from that," the principal said, "Aelita is too good a student to have something like that happen to her."

"So, what about today?" was the next question.

"I'll let her off with the detention she has already served, plus your reprimand," the principal said, "additionally, I think I'll assign her some research into people whose lives have been ruined by the poor decisions they've made. I'll have your History teacher give you the details, and I expect it on my desk next Monday. Am I understood, Miss Stones?"

"Yes, sir," was Aelita's reply.

"Well, I'll escort you two to a conference room, where you can have a private discussion," the principal said.

With that, he escorted the family to a conference room, where he left them alone.

"And, Mr. Stones," the principal said before he left, "please let Mrs. Weber, my secretary, know when you leave. It's just a simple security measure, you see."

* * *

After school that day, the Lyoko Warriors gathered at their usual bench in the courtyard to discuss the day's events.

"So, you got off with an essay," Ulrich said, "that's not too bad. Maybe I should have Einstein program up a specter of my father."

"In your case, I don't think it would work as well," Jeremie said, "but the specter did work. Any problems, Yumi?"

"No, other than it itches," she replied.

"Itches?" Odd said.

"That must be from the quantum energy that makes up the specter," Jeremie said, "it's like having electricity crawling all over you. Any other problems?"

"No, except my daughter is developing a rebellious streak," Yumi said with a smirk.

"Say, you were convincing in there," Aelita said, "for a moment, I almost thought you were my father."

"Well, I just tried imagining what my father would say if it were him," Yumi said, "of course, our private conversation would have been much different, let me tell you."

"Well, thank you for that," Aelita said, "I hope this doesn't jeopardize my chances with the SubDigitals."

"Did you call them?" Odd asked.

"Not yet," Aelita replied, "I was going to do it this morning, but I was overtaken by events."

"Well, go ahead and call them and make the appointment," Jeremie said, "the test run worked as well as we could expect, so let's do this for real."


	5. An Appointment To Be Captured

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Sophie was disappointed that it took Aelita so long to call her back, but the girl explained that her father was difficult to get in contact with at the best of times, due to the amount of traveling he did. But, she was finally able to, and they set up an appointment for the next Tuesday, after school, at the band's studio in town.

The gang talked about what the meeting might be about. Since Aelita was going to be working with the SubDigitals, at least for the London concert, whatever it was would be related to that. Also, Aelita related that Sophie wanted to "take her on as a client." She supposed that she wanted to work with Aelita in the same way that she did with Chris and the SubDigitals, but she couldn't figure out what that involved.

"You know," Jeremie said, "we're getting into things here that we've never experienced before. I mean, fighting XANA is one thing; we had some idea when we started, and we've figured out more over the years. But this is something else entirely. I don't even know the right questions to ask, let alone the answers. We need to talk to someone who knows about this stuff."

"Who?" Yumi asked.

"The only person I can think of is Chris," Aelita said, "or, maybe..."

* * *

Aelita cautiously approached Jim Morales about the matter. After her last run in with him, she wasn't sure he would be all that open to discussing anything with her.

"So, Sophie offered you a contract, eh?" the PE teacher said when she finally asked him, "well, that might explain the other night."

"Actually, yeah," Aelita sheepishly replied, "I was so lost in my thoughts about it, I completely lost track of time when you caught me."

"Well, I can relate to that," Jim said with a smile, "it happened to me once. So, you want to know what she wants to talk to your father about."

"Yes. It kinda has me worried."

"Well, if I remember correctly, when Sophie talked with Chris and his gang, she wanted representation rights, calling for fifteen percent of their earnings as fee, and oversight of their finances. Given the way the band has prospered, I can't say she's done them wrong."

"Were you involved when they signed up?" Aelita asked.

"Oh no! No way!" Jim exclaimed, "I may have done a lot of things in my life, but being a lawyer wasn't one of them. The only thing I could tell you is it seems that Sophie is on the level, and she's worth the fee she gets. Chris just raves about what she does for them."

"Thanks, Jim; that really helps," Aelita finally said.

"No problem, Aelita," was the reply, "just don't let all that fame and stuff go to your head. And try not to let it interfere with your school work."

* * *

Tuesday afternoon finally came, and Aelita was a wreck. Even after Jim's talk, she was still worried about what was going to happen in the meeting. Her fidgeting did not go unnoticed.

"So, nervous?" Odd asked, "I'm willing to be they'll just settle for five quarts of blood and your first three children."

"Odd, you're not helping," Ulrich said, adding a smack to the blond boy's head for empahsis.

"Don't worry, Aelita," Jeremie said, "it'll be all hands on deck when the time comes. Yumi will be with you, while Odd and Ulrich are on Lyoko ready for any trouble that might pop up. It'll be a piece of cake, you'll see."

The support of her friends did help, and Aelita settled down a little.

After the last class, Yumi caught up with the star of the moment.

"All set, Aelita?" Yumi asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be," she replied.

"There go the boys," Yumi said, nodding her head at the trio as they ran into the park, heading for the factory.

The two girls walked off campus and into town. About a block before the studio, they ducked into an alley. Yumi pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

"Jeremie, it's Yumi," she said, "we're just about there."

"Good," came Jeremie's voice, "I'll start the program and send the specter to you. Leave your cell on."

At the factory, Jeremie began typing, Odd and Ulrich watching from either side of the console seat. The original plan had been to virtualize both boys into Lyoko, but Jeremie changed his mind at the last minute. Jeremie completed his typing, then checked the command before he pressed return. Then, satisfied, he hit the return key and activated the program.

"Okay, the specter should be there any second," the genius announced.

Back in the alley, a dark smoke began to pour from Yumi's cell phone. It quickly formed around her and coalesced into Franz Hopper, or, for this session, Franz Stones. Franz looked himself over for a moment, then spoke into Yumi's cell.

"Everything's working, Jer," came Franz's voice, "I don't feel like anything's wrong."

"Everything looks good here," Jeremie replied, "so get going. And good luck, you two."

"Father" and daughter left the alley and went the rest of the way to the studio. As they walked in, Aelita called out, "Sophie, we're here!"

"Good!" came Sophie's voice, once again from the back, "I'm back in the same office as last time, if you would join me."

They made their way back to the same office Aelita had been in the last time she met with the woman. When they walked in the door, Sophie had stood up, and now walked over to greet them.

"Aelita, I'm glad to see you again!" she beamed, "and this must be your father."

"How do you do; Franz Stones," Franz said, "Aelita has told me a lot about you."

"And I hope we will learn a lot more about each other as time goes on," Sophie replied, "please, have a seat. Would you care for coffee?"

"No thank you," Franz said as he and Aelita sat down, "I'd prefer to get down to business, if you don't mind."

"I certainly don't," Sophie replied, "as Aelita may have told you, I would like to..."

While Sophie talked on, Jeremie observed the whole meeting from the factory. One of the last improvements he made to the specter's programming was to capture sound and video and route it to the supercomputer. That way, he could keep an eye on what was going on, and maybe get a heads up to any danger that might occur.

Sophie talked about how she had met Aelita, the competition as well as the concert in Paris a couple of weeks ago. She told Franz that she though Aelita had so much potential, she could possibly become as popular as the SubDigitals. That shocked everyone.

"And what I want to do, not to put too fine a point on it, is to snatch her up before somebody else does," Sophie said, "I want to sign Aelita to a management contract. I would monitor her finances, get her venues to perform, and promote her to the record companies. In return, I charge fifteen percent of gross income."

"Well, I don't know," Franz said, "that seems a little steep."

"In my business, it's a steal," Sophie replied, "and quite frankly, other managers not only charge more, but they find ways to take even more beyond that. I've seen unscrupulous people sign promising acts to a contract, then bleed them dry before dumping them. I don't do that, and I despise people who do. That's another reason why I want Aelita. I've already heard of some of my peers sharpening their hooks, getting ready to dig them into her back. And, aside from my fee, everything else I mentioned is standard operating procedure in the business."

"Well, another thing that's concerning me is Aelita's age," Franz said, "she's just started high school, and I'm afraid that this will hurt her education."

"I understand your concern, Mr. Stones," Sophie said, "the initial offer for the London concert is a rare opportunity, and it's a test of her appeal. If she does well there, she'll probably do well anywhere in the world. And what we would do after that is keep her local, and arrange her performances so they don't interfere with her schooling; saving any travel for the summertime, when school is out. Would that be acceptable?"

"I think it would be," Franz replied, "well, princess, what do you think?"

"I'd like to, daddy," Aelita replied.

"Well, all you have to do is sign this contract, and it's done," Sophie said, producing a set of papers, "now, I would recommend that you take this with you and look it over. Have a lawyer verify what I told you. After that, if you're satisfied, sign it and get it back to me. In the meantime, I'll start setting things in motion. Do you have any other questions?"

"No," said Franz.

"Good, then take these papers..."

Just as Sophie said that, something began to happen. The specter began to blink and phase in and out, like bad TV reception. Back at the factory, the sound and video suddenly cut out, and an alarm sounded at the console.

"Oh, no!" Jeremie exclaimed, "XANA! Get to the scanners, guys!"

Odd and Ulrich ran to the elevator, and down to the scanner room. While they were going, Jeremie quickly started typing, trying to get the location of the tower XANA had activated.

"Okay, guys, he's activated a tower in the Ice Sector," Jeremie said, "he's using that to take over the tower I activated. I'll try some things to hold him off, but you have to get there quick!"

"What do we do when we get there?" Odd asked through the speakers.

"I'll figure that out when you get there," Jeremie replied.

* * *

The clone of William Dunbar just sat in his room and waited. Yumi had told him after the last class today to come back here and don't leave. William didn't understand why, but he knew that he must do whatever Yumi or one of her friends told him to do. It seldom made sense, but it made more sense than the things he heard from everybody else.

Suddenly, William started to convulse. After a second, he got up and left his room, the Mark of XANA plain in his eyes.

* * *

Back at Sophie's office, Franz Stones had stood up. Suddenly, he screamed like he was in agony, and Yumi Ishiyama was expelled from within. She sprawled out on the desk and groaned, unconscious.

"What is the meaning of this!" Sophie exclaimed, "what's going on here?!"

"Run, Sophie!" Aelita shouted as she turned to do the same.

The polymorphic specter, now with the Mark of XANA in its eyes, grabbed Aelita before she could take a step. Electricity coursed through Aelita's body, and she screamed as she too fell unconscious.

Sophie ran, trying to get out of the office, but was struck down by an energy bolt before she could clear the office door.

The XANA controlled specter just chuckled to itself as it saw its prey lying helpless before it.

* * *

Back at the factory, Jeremie was frantically typing.

"Transfer, Odd; transfer, Ulrich. Scanner, Odd; Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization!"

Jeremie watched the progress of the transfer, while preparing their vehicles. He saw them complete the transfer, just south of the activated tower. But as soon as they stabilized, something happened, almost like they had been hit by something.

"Guys? Are you there?"

No answer. Jeremie began typing, then looked at the display.

"Oh no! They've been caught by Guardians!"

"They're not the only ones who've been caught," came a familiar voice from behind the blond genius, just before the lights went out.


	6. Pinpoint Torture

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Jeremie groaned as he woke up. For some reason, his arms were above his head and hurting. He opened his eyes, and the world was a blur, because his glasses had fallen off. But he could see a dark shape moving around the console, doing something. It finally turned and saw that he was awake, then walked over to him. It bent down and picked something up, then put it on Jeremie's face, his glasses. 

The world sharpened its focus and Jeremie saw that the dark shape was William Dunbar. Or, rather, the clone of William they had made.

"William, what are you doing?" Jeremie asked, then shut up as he saw the Mark of XANA in the clone's eyes.

"It should be obvious what I'm doing," William said, "I'm preparing to destroy you all."

William went back over to the console and typed. Suddenly, the holosphere changed, showing a scene of the studio where Aelita and Yumi were.

The polymorphic specter had been busy while Jeremie was out. It had taken Yumi and Aelita to one of the studios. It tied Aelita to a chair in the mixing booth, and had strung Yumi and Sophie up by their wrists inside. All of the girls were still unconscious.

"All of my enemies are finally in my grasp at the same time," William said, "and there's no way for Aelita to get to a tower to stop me, not this time!"

"You really should have followed your instincts, Jeremie," William continued, "you knew it would be too dangerous for Aelita, but you let her go. Now you can watch as she pays the price."

By now, the girls had woken up. Sophie tried to scream, but was prevented by gray tape over her mouth. Yumi just groaned as she took in the situation. Whatever the specter had done was pretty serious, because Yumi was hardly moving.

Aelita had woken up too, and was staring at the specter.

"Why are you doing this?" she demanded.

"You know why, _princess,"_ came the voice of Franz Hopper, "you are the only thing that stands between me and my plans. Now that I have you, I'm going to make sure you never interfere again."

The specter looked into the studio and continued, "I've waited a long time for this moment, and I shall savor it. You are going to watch your friends die, very slowly, Aelita. Then, your true love will watch as you die just as slowly! And with your last thought, you can imagine what I will do to him!"

Back at the factory, Jeremie could only struggle as he watched the holosphere.

"That's right, Einstein, I'm saving you for last," William said, "well, not exactly last. I'll dump the other two in the Digital Sea when I'm done. They're actually getting off easy; they'll never know what hit them. Now, why don't you just hang in there and watch the show."

Back at the studio, the specter carefully moved Aelita's chair so she could fully see her friend's suffering. Inside, Sophie could only twitch and struggle at the bonds holding her as she watched the man she knew as Franz Stones enter and approach the girl that suddenly appeared on her desk when this nightmare started. Mr. Stones seemed to have something in his hands, a box of straight pins. He walked over to the girl, grabbed her head, somehow opened the box of pins and began pushing them deep into the girl's lips. Each time he did, she would scream in agony, and that only seemed to egg him on. After a moment, he had pushed a dozen pins into the girl's upper and lower lips, each pin about half way in; certainly through the lip, and probably into the gums and bone underneath.

From the mixing booth, Aelita screamed, "stop it! Don't hurt her any more! It's me you want, not her!!!!"

The specter just smiled as it heard her pleas. It turned back to Yumi and took a pin. It held her head carefully as it stuck the pin in her eye socket, just by the outer edge. It took another pin and stuck it in the other side, next to her nose. It then repeated the process on her other eye.

Yumi was crying now, unable to help herself. The pain was unbearable, almost unimaginable, and it wasn't stopping.

Back in the factory, Jeremie cried as he watch his friend being tortured. He turned away and closed his eyes to the horror.

"Ah, ah, ah! None of that!" William said, seizing the boy's head and making him look at the scene, "this is what you get for meddling in things you don't understand. Although I'm grateful that you turned the supercomputer back on, you should have turned it off like your one friend said. Aelita may still have been trapped, but your friends would be safe. Now, what you're seeing here is just the warm up. I'm going to put a few more pins in Yumi to give the electricity a good path to follow. Then I'm going to fry her like bacon while you watch! And when I'm done with her, I'll start on her friend. When I'm through with her, I'll do Aelita. And between just us guys, Yumi is getting off lucky."

Back at the studio, the specter shifted its attention downward. It groped Yumi's chest for a moment, leering as it did, found what it was looking for, then drove a pin in, causing the girl to scream again. It quickly placed several more pins around the first, then did the same on the other side.

Seemly satisfied, the specter stepped back and raised its arm. Electricity shot out and hit the pins it had just placed, causing the Japanese girl to scream even louder than she had already. Blood started to flow out of her mouth, for she had bitten her tongue. The specter fired again, this time at the pins in her eyes. Yumi screamed and writhed, convulsing and pulling herself up. When the charge stopped, she collapsed. After a moment, the specter fired again, this time at Yumi's mouth.

In the booth, Aelita could only cry in horror at what was being played out. She thought Yumi had died with that last jolt, but the Japanese girl moaned as the specter roughly grabbed her head and pulled it up, before sending another charge into the pins in her lips.

The specter continued on for a while, the Japanese girl's screams seeming to egg him on. He stopped after a while, then started jabbing pins into Yumi's body at random points, stepping back and firing electricity into them. Aelita thought she heard a giggle coming from the specter as Yumi screamed, twtiched and jumped.

Finally, the specter stopped. He lifted Yumi's head again and made her look at its face.

"If it is any consolation," the face of Franz Hopper told her, "this will be the last time. It will take a while, and it will be excruciating, but it will be the last time."

He dropped her head, then stepped back again. The specter raised its hand and began gathering up energy for the last blast at Yumi. The Japanese girl could only whimper as she saw her end coming.

Just before the specter loosed its blow, something happened. In the factory, the holosphere display blanked out. The William clone, annoyed by the glitch, walked over to the console and typed. It checked the display, then exclaimed, "that's not possible!"

* * *

On Lyoko, a pair of Mantas glided onto the scene, bathed in a blue aura. Each monster converged on the location of the Guardians holding Odd and Ulrich, then fired when they got in range. Surprisingly, both Guardians exploded, freeing the trapped warriors. 

"What happened?" Odd said, shaking his head, "one minute we're dropping into a couple of Guardians, the next..."

"Odd, look," Ulrich said as he pointed at the mantas. Both creatures were hovering just a few feet away, and low enough for the two boys to jump up on.

"I think we're being offered a ride," Ulrich said.

"Okay, by whom," Odd retorted.

"Jeremie, I guess," the samurai responded, "let's not look a gift horse in the mouth; we'll figure it out later."

With that, the two ran over and jumped on the mantas. As soon as they had, the Mantas flew off, away from the activated tower they had originally been sent to investigate.

"Hey, what's going on?" Odd shouted, "the tower's back that way."

The Mantas didn't seem to care; they continued their flight to the edge of the sector. When they got there, the kept flying, straight to the "sun".

"Ulrich, I think they're trying to fry us," Odd quipped.

"I don't think so, Odd," Ulrich replied, "remember, that this is one of the tunnels to Sector Five. I guess we're needed there for some reason.

* * *

Back at the studio, the polymorphic specter wavered, then dissipated, leaving Yumi and Sophie hanging. Yumi started sobbing hysterically at the reprieve. In the mixing booth, Aelita started rocking in her chair, trying to upend it so she could escape and help her friends.

* * *

Back at the factory, the William clone was frantically typing. 

"No! There's no way this can happen!" it was exclaiming, "there is absolutely no way you could have done anything like this! It must be..."

What William would have said will never be known, for at that instant, the clone disappeared.

* * *

The Mantas finally reached Sector Five, and dropped Ulrich and Odd at one of the equatorial openings. The two looked at the monsters as they flew off, shrugged and went inside. 

They ran down the corridor until they came to the Arena where they usually landed when they came to Sector Five. As soon as they had entered, the walls started spinning, quickly stopping before the access corridor to the rest of the sector. As soon as the door opened, they ran inside. They ran to the elevator stop, and waited.

"Is something up with the Skid?" Odd asked.

"You're asking the wrong person," Ulrich replied, "I'm just as much in the dark as you are."

"Hey, Jeremie!" Odd shouted, "how 'bout a little help here!"

"That's not possible," came a new voice, "he needs as much help as Aelita and Yumi do."

Odd and Ulrich turned to where the voice came from. The elevator had arrived, and wasn't empty. Inside were some floating spheres. The voice came from there.

"Jeremie is unable to get to the console," came the voice, "with your friend Yumi near death and Aelita next on the execution roster, I couldn't stand idle any longer."

"Wait," Ulrich said, "just who are you?"

"Haven't you guessed? I'm Franz Hopper.

* * *

Corrected grammer error on 8/4/2007... Good catch, TwentySevenSouls! 


	7. The Nexus

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Back at the studio, Aelita had managed to tip her chair over. She struggled for a bit longer and was finally able to free an arm. That enabled her to free herself the rest of the way. She ran into the studio where Yumi and Sophie were, and looked for something to get them down. 

She finally found a chair she could stand on, then pulled it over to Yumi and climbed up on it. The specter had used piano wire to string the girl up, and her wrists were starting to bleed profusely. She struggled with her for a bit longer, finally managing to get her down. Yumi's body hit the floor with a thud.

Even though she was worried about her friend, Aelita next moved to Sophie and got her down. Like Yumi, she had been bound by piano wire, and was bleeding from the wrists. She collapsed when released, but managed to pick herself up.

"Aelita, what just happened here?" Sophie demanded after she removed the tape gagging her, "what was that thing?"

"I can't explain it now, Sophie," Aelita said, "but I will; I promise. Please, help me with Yumi."

The woman pulled herself up and helped Aelita move her friend to another room. Sophie then left and returned with a first aid kit.

As she applied compresses to her own wounds, Sophie said, "this will help, but we need an ambulance. And the police."

With that, she went for the telephone.

* * *

On Lyoko, Odd and Ulrich stood in the elevator with the spheres that claimed to be Franz Hopper. Once they had boarded, the elevator started down, instead of its usual up direction. 

"I've been back a few times since XANA destroyed Lyoko," Franz said, "I haven't been able to remain for long, since I was afraid XANA would trap me here again. This time, I sensed that XANA was making some kind of move against Aelita, and followed him in. I wasn't able to prevent him from starting his operation, because this Lyoko is just different enough from the old one that I had to search around a bit for what I was looking for.

The elevator finally stopped before a hallway that neither of the boys had seen before.

"Where are we?" Odd asked.

"Near the control nexus," Franz replied, "all of the towers are interconnected here. I was able to infiltrate the nexus and shut down all of the towers. That cut XANA's access to the world, as well as getting rid of that clone you've been running."

"So, what's the problem? You've shut down the towers, XANA's stopped; what else needs to be done?" Odd asked.

"XANA is trying to regain control of the nexus," Franz said, "the moment the connection was severed, XANA knew what had happened. He's now at the nexus trying to break in. Before I left, I set up an access code that will take XANA some time to break, but he will break it soon. We need to defeat XANA and drive him from the system, then launch a Return To The Past to insure no one dies. Any questions?"

"Finally, something I do understand," Odd said, "it almost sounds like, 'yoohoo, it's us!' time."

"You two need to be careful," Franz said, "when I took the towers offline, I also took the scanners down. If you run out of life points, you will die."

"I kinda like it better the way Jeremie says it," Odd said, "game over."

* * *

They managed to get Yumi bandaged, so her bleeding stopped. Aelita tried removing one of the pins that the specter drove into Yumi's eye, but the girl moaned when she even touched it. 

"Aelita, leave it alone," Sophie said, "let the doctor's handle it."

Aelita looked at the woman and nodded. She was still in shock over what had transpired, and she was trying to maintain a brave facade for Yumi and Sophie.

"I think you need to tell me what is going on here," Sophie finally said, "whatever that was, it wasn't your father. And just who is this girl? And, whatever that was, why was it trying to kill us?"

"It's a long story," Aelita began, "and quite frankly, this is the worst it has ever gotten. It started a long time ago, when my father..."

* * *

Odd, Ulrich and Franz finally reached the control nexus. It was a room that was crisscrossed with what looked like pipes all around, leading into one central box. Before that box, the XANA-fied William was frantically doing something. 

"Hey, William! Don't you know it's against the law to break into someone else's house?" Odd shouted as he fired off a laser arrow.

The surprised William turned around just in time to be hit in the head with the arrow. He grunted as the hit registered.

"Yeah, and Aelita isn't going to like your monkeying around with her work," Ulrich added, "she spent a lot of time fixing this place back up after you trashed it the last time."

Both boys charged at the intruder. William called up his sword and parried their attack, jumping over and beyond them. Odd immediately snapped around and fired off a stream of laser arrows, while Ulrich jumped up on one of the pipes and ran at William.

William dodged most of the arrows, but enough got through to severely weaken him. Ulrich then dropped down from the pipe he had been running across, and attacked XANA's minion with both of his katanas. William parried the attack and struck back, almost killing Ulrich. The samurai barely dodged the blow, then responded with one of his own.

While the Lyoko Warriors were keeping XANA/William busy, Franz Hopper floated over to the control nexus. He entered the access code he had set up and interfaced with the nexus again. He immediately reactivated the scanners, so the boys wouldn't be killed if they were devirtualized. Then, Franz started activating towers.

William had managed to throw off Ulrich's latest attack, and in the process, disarmed his opponent. Odd tried to cover for Ulrich, but William struck out once with his sword, and devirtualized the boy.

Now, he stood over the fallen Ulrich.

"Any last words before oblivion?" XANA/William asked Ulrich.

Ulrich looked around and then replied,"yeah! Sucker!"

William was suddenly struck by a laser blast from a Creeper that had suddenly materialized in the control nexus. William turned, surprised at his attacker, only to be hit again from another angle by another Creeper. William took a look around and saw there were something like a dozen Creepers in the control nexus, all preparing to fire at him.

"Well met. Next time, I'll defeat you for certain. Super Smoke!" William said as he dissolved into a black smoke and fled the field.

Ulrich stood up as the Creepers started to disappear. "What about Odd," he asked the room.

"Don't worry about him," came Franz Hopper's voice, "I put the scanners back online before I started materializing the re-enforcements. Now that the nexus is secure, we'll mitigate the damage done. Return To the Past Now."

* * *

In the scanner room, Odd tumbled out of the scanner. He shook his head and gave thanks that he was still alive, then made his way to the console room. 

Up at the console, Jeremie was hurting. The William clone had used cabling from around the room to bind the genius and hang him up, and his hands were starting to go numb from lack of blood. There was nothing the boy could do to relieve his pain, or release himself. He could only wait for rescue, or for his tormentor to return.

Jeremie heard the elevator start moving. After a minute, the door opened to reveal Odd Della Robbia standing there.

"Well, what'rya hanging around for? We need to help Ulrich!" the boy shouted.

As Odd walked over, the holosphere blasted out a pillar of white light. Before they were engulfed, Jeremie said, "somehow, I don't think so."


	8. All My Love, Forever

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

Jeremie, Odd and Ulrich were back at the console where they were at the beginning of the afternoon. Jeremie quickly dialed Aelita.

"Aelita, is everything okay on your end?" he said when she answered.

"Yes, Yumi and I are both here," Aelita replied, "we're in the alley about a block from the studio."

"How's Yumi," Ulrich asked.

"Not good," was the pink haired girl's reply, "she still remembers what happened the last time around."

"Look, we're just going to have to abort the operation," Jeremie said, "call Sophie up and make sure she's okay, then make up an excuse and reschedule."

"Okay," Aelita replied, clearly disappointed.

* * *

Sophie was sitting in her office, and clearly confused. _I must have been daydreaming,_ she thought to herself, _well, it was more like a nightmare, really. I mean, Mr. Stones, a psycho killer? C'mon!_

Just then, there was a knock at the outside door. Someone came in and a man's voice called out, "hello? Is anyone here? I have an appointment with someone named Sophie."

"I'm back here," Sophie called out.

She heard the approach of footsteps and a seemingly familiar looking man appeared at her door.

"Hello; my name is Franz Stones. I'm Aelita's father," said the man.

It took all of Sophie's self-control not to run screaming from the room.

* * *

The elevator door opened, revealing Aelita and Yumi. Although they looked fine physically, Yumi was slumped over Aelita's shoulder like she could barely walk. It also sounded like she was sobbing.

Ulrich immediately ran over and took Yumi from Aelita. When he did, she threw her arms around him and started bawling. Aelita ran over and threw her arms around Jeremie.

"Thank God you got control back when you did," Aelita said, "Yumi almost died! XANA was torturing her and..."

"I know, I saw almost everything," Jeremie said, "but it wasn't me who saved the day. I was over there hanging up like an old coat while all this was going on."

"Well, you can thank your father for the save," Odd said, causing Jeremie, Aelita and Yumi to stare at the boy.

"Yeah, it was Franz Hopper," Odd continued, "he somehow got in, infiltrated the matrix, then shot William to bits."

"Well, that's not quite what happened," Ulrich said, "but it was Franz Hopper."

"My father, was here?" Aelita asked.

"Yes," Ulrich replied, "he followed XANA in this time, saw what was going on and stepped in. If he hadn't, we'd be done for."

Yumi, in the mean time, had stopped crying. She looked up, then flushed red when she saw who she was holding. She didn't let go, however.

"Yumi, are you going to be alright?" Ulrich asked.

"Eventually, she finally said, "but I'm going to have nightmares for at least a month, and I'll never ever watch another Japanese horror movie."

"Gee, I never knew you liked horror movies," Odd piped in.

"Well, I don't like the ones you like," Yumi replied, a small grin on her face, "Japanese horror movies are more frightening."

"Oh, my gosh!" Aelita suddenly said, "I forgot to call Sophie!"

She quickly pulled out her cell phone and dialed.

"Sophie, it's Aelita," she began, "I'm sorry but I couldn't..."

She stood there in stunned silence as she listened to Sophie speak. She finally said, "okay, I'll be there," and hung up.

"It turns out I wasn't late for our meeting after all," Aelita said, "Sophie said she just got done talking to my father, and they worked everything out. She wants me to drop by whenever to discuss the details, and she has something for me."

* * *

The Lyoko Warriors stood outside the studio that had been the focus of so much trouble. Yumi, in particular, looked like she wanted to bolt from the scene, but Ulrich put an arm around her to comfort her and give her strength.

They all walked inside, and Aelita called out, "Sophie, I'm here!"

Sophie came walking out, beaming.

"Well, I'm glad you could make it so quickly," she said, "your father said something came up and you couldn't make it, but we were able to take care of all the boring details."

The woman then handed Aelita a large envelope.

"This is a copy of the contract we just signed. Just so you know, I'll be charging you a ten percent management fee, and I'll be overseeing your finances, just like I do the SubDigitals. Another thing, any money you receive will go into a trust fund. That way, there should be no opportunity for monkey business on anybody's part."

"Okay," Aelita said.

"Now, about London. Your father agreed to let you perform, but he said no more travel during the school year. He's more concerned about your education than your career, and I don't really blame him. Hiring tutors for while you're on the road will be expensive, and I've got an idea that will build the buzz about you without having you flit all over the world."

"Oh, and one more thing," Sophie continued, "your father put something in that envelope for you. He wanted you to read it when you got a spare moment. Now, how about you and your friends joining me in a celebration, my treat!"

All of the teens' eyes lit up at that.

"Let's go, I'm starved," Odd exclaimed.

* * *

That evening, Aelita sat in her dorm room at Kadic Academy and looked at the envelope Sophie had given her. She almost dreaded opening it, afraid of what it contained.

The celebration was enjoyable. Chris and the rest of the SubDigitals caught up with them and congratulated Aelita on her new career. Ulrich had to take Odd off to the side at one point and threaten him with bodily harm if he didn't curb his appetite. It was funny to watch Odd sulk the rest of the evening.

They got back to school well before curfew, Chris saying he remembered how strict Kadic was about violating curfew from his days at the school. After they said their goodbyes, Ulrich walked Yumi home. For once, neither was embarrassed to be close to the other.

Now, Aelita sat and stared at the envelope. Finally, she took it and opened it up. Inside was a copy of the contract her father had signed, as well as some information about a trust fund that had been set up for her, some twenty years ago. There was also a small envelope included, marked "Aelita."

She opened the envelope up and withdrew the letter within. She opened it up and read:

_My Darling Aelita,_

_I love you with all my heart, and I'm sorry I dragged you into my troubles. I should have never taken you into Lyoko that day; I should have stood my ground and confronted those men. Even if they took me away, you would have had some chance of a normal life._

_The only thing I can do now is try and make amends. When you were a baby, your mother and I set up a trust fund for you. We would put money in that account every now and then so you would have a college fund when you came of age. Over the years, I've managed it the best I could, at least until Lyoko. The trust is located in a Swiss bank, in a numbered account. Those who were looking for me have never found this account, and since I've been on the 'net, I've been keeping an eye on it for you. Right now, there is enough for you to live comfortably for a very long time. If Sophie is as sharp a manager as I think she is, it could well double by the time you come of age. I have arranged for your tuition at Kadic to be paid out of this account, including the amount Jeremie embezzled to enroll you. On a side note, you really should have a talk with that boy about his criminal tendencies._

_I know I can't talk you, or them out of it, but your best course of action is to shut down the supercomputer and forget about recovering me. Live your lives out as normal children should. The fight you are fighting is not yours, and it may take years to finally win, if victory is even possible. I will tell you that XANA has co-opted several supercomputers around the world, establishing Lyoko copies on each. What his purpose is, I have no idea, but the original supercomputer is part of whatever he is planning. Sooner or later, XANA will return to wrest control of it from you, so your best course of action is to shut it down and destroy it. Place an anonymous call to the government about the location and forget about it._

_Of course, if you were going to do that, you would have done it already. I had hoped that you would after XANA originally escaped and you got your memories back. Or again, when Lyoko was destroyed. But I see that you are as stubborn as I am, and as much a fighter as your mother was. Since you aren't going to do the smart thing, I'll be visiting Lyoko more often to help you do the dumb thing. I've already left some programs for Jeremie to look at and improve. These should help make it harder for XANA to infiltrate Lyoko again, and give your ship a little more power. I've also included a little bit of XANA's programming, the part that allows him to project himself into the real world. You might find it useful when you visit XANA's Replikas._

_As for materializing me, don't worry about it. It would be too difficult to explain my reappearance after so many years gone, and the last thing you need is a doddering old fool in your way. Live your life, Aelita; don't worry about mine. You have fine friends, and, if I'm not mistaken, someone who cares for you as deeply as I do. Don't be too harsh on him when he tries to swaddle you in cotton to keep you from breaking. Right now, that is the only way he can say, I Love You._

_Tell Jeremie he won't have to worry about monitoring the voice mailbox he made for me; I'll do that from here on out. When you need to go to a rehearsal, or when you finally go to London, leave me a message there and I'll be sure to be in Lyoko in case XANA tries something. Also, tell him I've set up a profile for him in the computer. One of the things it provides is the capability to deactivate towers, like you have. Tell him that he needs to pick up the slack while you're unavailable. Be sure to add a smile and kiss when you do, to lessen the sting._

_Take care of yourself, my precious daughter. If we do not meet again in this world, maybe we will in the next._

_All my love, forever,_

_Franz Hopper_


	9. Off To London

**Disclaimer**: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners, particularly the characters taken from the animated series, Code Lyoko. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

* * *

A month past since the day at the studio. Aelita and Yumi are standing outside of the SubDigital's studio, waiting as Simon loads the last of the band's equipment on to their tour bus. Chris and the others, along with Sophie, had left the day before to make sure the venue for the concert was ready, and to do some pre-concert publicity.

Jim Morales was helping Simon loading the last of the equipment onto the bus, while Aelita was chatting quietly with Yumi, both stealing glances every now and then at Aelita's last minute traveling companion, Sissi Delmas.

* * *

After Franz Hopper defeated XANA, Aelita and her friends prepared themselves for her impending absence. Aelita had spent many afternoons with Simon, the sound man, rehearsing on the mixing board, trying out new music, and generally becoming familiar with him and the way he worked.

Odd, Yumi and Ulrich, in the meantime, were taking turns operating the supercomputer as Jeremie entered Lyoko to begin his training as Aelita's surrogate. Aelita was working the console the first time Jeremie was virtualized using Franz's profile for him, and just about fell out of the chair laughing when she saw his Lyoko persona. Afterwards, Jeremie just about quit, saying he would never go back to Lyoko in that form again, but Aelita took him aside and told him what her father had said, and added the smile and a kiss he had suggested, along with a big hug, to soften the sting. The genius groused a while longer, complaining about being a "yellow fairy prince," but kept at his training.

Yumi was slowly recovering from her ordeal. For the first two weeks after the studio incident, she awoke screaming every night from the nightmares she had. She wouldn't go to Lyoko for any reason for a time, so she got in quite a bit of practice at the console. She finally returned when XANA launched a particularly vicious attack on her family, nearly killing her parents before the Return To The Past took effect.

Franz Hopper made his presence known every now and then. Sometimes, the Warriors would see a group of spheres off in the distance, but they would disappear when any of them tried to get close. Jeremie got emails from Franz with additional information he could use; but the man never seemed to have time to contact his daughter. The girl got rather depressed that her own father wouldn't take a moment and at least say hello to her.

Two weeks before they left for London, Jim Morales announced that he was taking time off to join the SubDigitals on their tour. His nephew had asked him if he wanted to come, and the PE teacher jumped at the chance. One of the things Jim would be doing was assisting Simon with loading and setting up for the concert. Another thing he would be doing is watching out for Aelita and the other student that managed to be invited along.

Principal Delmas contacted Sophie and asked if another student could accompany Aelita and write a story about the concert for the school newspaper. Additionally, the principal had arranged with the local TV station for that student to present their article on the air. Jim Morales would act as cameraman for the video portion of the report.

Everybody thought that either Milly Solovieff or Tamiya Diop would be the lucky one to go, but it turned out that Sissi Delmas, the principal's daughter, got the nod. While almost all of the school chalked the decision up to favoritism, the truth was that Sissi was seriously failing her French class. The situation was serious enough that the girl would be put back a grade if she didn't improve; so the teacher offered her this last chance. Go along and write an outstanding article, then present it to both the school and the TV station, or flunk out and repeat the eighth grade. Sissi's joy at being able to go was severely tempered by the consequences if she truly didn't apply herself.

* * *

Jim and Simon finally finished loading the bus, and indicated that the girls should get aboard and get settled. Aelita gave Yumi a hug and a kiss, while Yumi told Aelita good luck with the concert. When Aelita boarded the bus, Yumi pulled out her cell phone and made a call.

Principal Delmas was there to see his daughter and Jim off. He once again reminded the girl of what was at stake, then gave her a kiss and told her good luck. He shook Jim's hand, then left to return to school. Jim ushered Sissi on board, then the bus set off.

Just as she sat down on the bus, Aelita's cell phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Aelita, it's Jeremie."

"I really wish you could have come with me," Aelita said, "it's kinda awkward having no one else to talk to but Sissi and Jim for the next two weeks."

"You'll be fine," Jeremie said, "and I couldn't come because I have to monitor Lyoko. Yumi could have done it, but she's still not too comfortable working with Franz. Plus, I'm supposed to be the one who deactivates the towers while you're gone."

Just then, the motor started, and the bus pulled away.

"Say, are you moving now?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah, why?" Aelita replied.

"At the corner on your right, take a look," the blond genius said cryptically.

Aelita looked out the window at the indicated corner. There stood a man with bushy gray hair, beard and mustache. He was wearing round eyeglasses, a turtleneck and slacks over a laboratory overcoat. He looked up at the passing bus and smiled and waived at the pink haired waif inside.

"Hello, princess," came the voice of Franz Hopper over Aelita's cell phone, "you look beautiful, just like your mother. Have a safe trip, and hurry back. We've got a lot of catching up to do."


End file.
